Investment to fund expansion of operations and progression of drug
target pipeline

May 15, 2018 08:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time

CAMBRIDGE, England--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--PhoreMost, the UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drugging
‘undruggable’ disease targets, today announced it has completed an £11m
($15m) Series-A investment round. The investment will be used to expand
operations on the Babraham Research Campus and progress several novel
drug targets from its next-generation “SITESEEKER®”
phenotypic screening platform into first-in-class drug discovery
programmes.

The new investment follows a successful validation phase, which saw
PhoreMost grow from a Cambridge University spin-out in 2015 with early
proof-of-concept data, to a technically and commercially validated
enterprise in 2017. The Company’s SITESEEKER® platform can
identify the best new therapeutic targets for any chosen disease setting
and rapidly identify how to develop novel drugs to them, which has the
potential to significantly increase the diversity and affordability of
novel treatments for cancer and other unmet diseases. Using its
platform, PhoreMost has built a proprietary novel target pipeline,
signed two pharma collaboration deals, and spun-out a new company
‘NeoPhore’ to progress a novel target for cancer immunotherapy into the
small-molecule development stage. The funding will enable PhoreMost to
expand the range and depth of other proprietary targets into the drug
discovery process.

The Series-A round was led by current investors Jonathan Milner, Amadeus
Capital Partners, Cambridge Enterprise, and cornerstone Parkwalk
Advisors, a London-based investor specialising in UK university
generated IP. Morningside Ventures, a prolific backer of global biotech
enterprises, is the principal new investor, with Dr Gerald Chan from
Morningside joining the PhoreMost Board. Alastair Kilgour of Parkwalk
also joins the Board.

Dr Chris Torrance CEO of PhoreMost, said: “We are thrilled to
have the support of our existing investors and Morningside in enabling
PhoreMost to move into its next exciting phase of growth. Their funding
and shared vision is a key part of PhoreMost becoming a fully-fledged
‘ethical’ drug discovery company that aims to bring a greater diversity
of therapies to patients, more quickly and at prices they can afford.”

Dr Jonathan Milner, Chairman of PhoreMost, said: “PhoreMost is
now working with pharma and biotech partners in drug discovery, applying
its SITESEEKER platform to identify cryptic druggable sites, which would
otherwise be impossible to find, and has the potential to significantly
increase the diversity and affordability of novel therapeutics for
cancer and other unmet diseases. This investment will fund the next
phase of PhoreMost’s development, and I would like to welcome new
investors Morningside, joining at this exciting time.”

Dr Hermann Hauser, co-founder, Amadeus Capital Partners, commented:
“PhoreMost is an important disrupter in the pharmaceutical industry
with the potential to improve the lives of millions suffering with
untreated conditions. Since our original investment in 2016, PhoreMost
has validated the concept behind its unique platform and developed a
pipeline of candidate drug discovery assets. We’re delighted that Gerald
Chan is joining the team of investors helping PhoreMost to realise its
potential.”